Shelter-in-Place Journal, Day 221

There’s an old joke about the lobbyist and the legislator. The lobbyist takes the legislator out for dinner and drinks and asks “if I made a million-dollar campaign contribution, would you back my bill?” The legislator says “Of course!” Then the lobbyist asks “what about if I only contributed a thousand bucks?” The legislator replies “What kind of public servant do you take me for?” and the lobbyist answers “We’ve already established that; now we’re just haggling over the price.”

I switched my cell service from Google Fi to T-Mobile a bit over a month ago because it was cheaper (Google Fi was $20/month plus $10/gigabyte plus tax; T-Mobile is $30/month flat rate). I didn’t consciously change my data usage, but now that I don’t pay by the gigabyte, I find that I am using a lot more data than I did on Google Fi – and I’ve started noticing that I’m pulling the phone out and looking at it while I’m out walking, which I wasn’t doing before the switch.

I used 2.45 GB during my last full month on Google Fi; I used 4.69 GB during my first month on T-Mobile, and I’ve used 1.88 GB in just 5 days so far during this billing cycle!

I guess my price is $10/gigabyte.

Shabbat Shalom!

  1. This is, of course, the clean and election-season-inspired version of the joke. For a discussion of the origin of the more common version, visit Quote Investigator.